One of the best-loved American writers was William Sydney Porter, or O. Henry. From 1893 he lived with his family in a house in Austin, Texas, which is now a museum. Visitors to Austin can see the house. It was saved from destruction (破坏) and turned into a museum in1934. The museum is a good way to learn about the interesting life of the American writer.

    William Porter rented this house in Austin and lived there with his wife Athol and daughter Margaret for about two years. Many objects in the museum belonged to the Porters. Others did not. An important piece in the room is the original photograph over here. It was taken there in the house about 1895. The piano there goes back to the 1860s. His wife took lessons on it when she first moved to Austin.

    Porter did not start his career as a successful writer. He worked at a farm, land office and bank. He also loved words and writing. The museumm has a special proof of Porter's love of language—his dictionary. It is said that he had read every word in that dictionary.

    Later William Porter was forced to leave Austin because he was charged with financial wrongdoing at the bank and lost his job. Because he was afraid of a trail (审判), he left the country secretly. But he returned because his wife was dying. After her death, he faced the trial and became a criminal. He served three and a half years in a prison in Ohio.

    William Porter would keep his time in prison a secret. But there was one good thing about it. It provided him with time to write. By the time he was freed, he had published 14 stories and became well known as O. Henry.

    Porter later moved to New York City and found great success there. He published over 180 stories in the last eight years of his life.

    Michael Greenberg is a very popular New Yorker. He is not famous in sports or the arts, But people in the streets 1 him, especially those who are 2.

    For those people, he is "Gloves" Greenberg. How did he get that 3? He looks like any other businessman, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase (公文箱). But he's 4. His briefcase always has some gloves.

    In winter, Mr. Greenberg does not 5 like other New Yorkers, who look at the sidewalk and 6 the street. He looks around at 7. He stops when he 8 someone with no gloves. He gives them a pair and then he 9, looking for more people with cold 10.

    On winter days, Mr. Greenberg 11 gloves. During the rest of the year, he 12 gloves. People who have heard about him 13 him gloves, and he has many in his apartment.

    Mr. Greenberg 14 doing this 21 years ago. Now, many poor New Yorkers know him and 15 his behavior. But people who don't know him are sometimes 16 him. They don't realize that he just wants to make them 17.

    It runs in the 18. Michael's father always helped the poor as he believed it made everyone happier. Michael Greenberg feels the 19. A pair of gloves may be a 20 thing, but it can make a big difference in winter.

    On May 29, 1973, Thomas Bradley, a black man, was elected mayor of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the third largest city in the United States, with a population of three million. About sixteen percent of the city's population are black.

    News of this election appeared on the front pages of newspapers everywhere in the United States. Here is how one major newspaper reported the event.

    LOS ANGELES ELECTS BRADLEY MAYOR UNSEATING YORTY

    BLACK WINS 56% OF VOTES

    Bradley called his victory over Yorty "the fulfillment of a dream". During his childhood and youth, people had kept telling him, "You can't do this, you can't go there, because you are a Negro." Nevertheless he had won a decisive victory over a man who had been won 43.7 percent.

    Los Angeles voters have had many opportunities to judge. Thomas Bradley had to form an opinion of him. The son of a poor farmer Texas, he joined the Los Angeles police force in 1940. During his twenty-one years on the police force he earned a law degree by attending school at night. He was elected to the city council years ago.

    At the time of the Los Angeles election, three other American cities already had black mayors, but none of these cities had as large a population as Los Angeles. Besides, the percentage of blacks in those other cities was much larger. Cleveland, Ohio, had thirty-six percent black when Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967. In the same year Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Cary. In Newark, New Jersey, sixty percent of the population were black when Kenneth Gibson was elected in 1970. Thus election of a black mayor in those cities was not very surprising.

    In Los Angeles, thousands of white citizens voted for Thomas Bradley because they believed he would be a better mayor than the white candidate. Bradley had spent forty-eight of his fifty-five years in Los Angeles. Four years ago, Bradley lost mayoral election to Yorty. This time Bradley won.

    I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, when one of my students, 15 ­year ­old Micky, gave me a note from his mother. It 1 his absence from class the day before.

    I had seen Micky himself writing the note at his desk. Most parental ­ excuse notes I received were penned by my 2.The forged (伪造的) excuse notes made a large pile, with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. The3of those notes didn't realize that honest excuse notes were usually 4：“Peter was late because the alarm clock didn't go off.”

    The students always said that it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject, but when they 5excuse notes, they were brilliant.

    So one day I gave the excuse notes to my classes, saying，“They're 6to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Micky? ” The students looked at me 7.

    “Now, this will be the first class to study the 8of the excuse notes—the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You're so 9to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a 10worthy of study.”

    Everyone smiled as I went on, “You used your 11. So try more now. Today I'd like you to write ‘An Excuse Note from Adam/Eve to God'.”12 went down. Pens raced 13paper. For the first time ever I saw students so 14in their writing that they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.

    The next day everyone had excuse notes. 15 discussions followed. The headmaster entered the classroom and walked 16 ， looking at papers, and then said, “I'd like you to see me in my office.” My heart 17.

    When I stepped into his office, he came to 18my hand and said, “I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was 19.Those kids were writing on the college20.Thank you.”